The Fall
by dustylibrarian
Summary: Kitty summons Bartimaues and the two of them join brains to outsmart the richest magicians left in power and hand power back to the people. Somewhere along the way, they encounter an ally...or a spy?
1. Chapter 1

Prologue

Rain poured down into the little village square, making quick work of the dirt into two feet of slimy mud. The windows of every house were snug with steam hugging their corners and passerby dashed from the torrential downpour back into the warmth of their own houses. A bitter frost had begun to take over the whole village, for it was nestled in a valley almost fifty miles from London and when the cold front moved in, it struck with bitter ferocity. Every year impoverished commoner families froze to death in their own homes, unable to afford coal or electricity due to the outrageous prices set by the sole power company outside of London. Pine and Son had an iron tight grip on the entire London countryside. Their monopoly stretched from the suburbs to the Western coast. They just so happened to originate from this small town, and they were perhaps the only successful establishment to do so. Proctor was a greedy, fat fellow who left his son, Sitkuss Pine to manage in his stead when the old codgers extreme dietary negligence and weak heart left him dead in his chair two Januaries ago. The company had been fair and decent, though a mite expensive until Pine junior was left in charge. The power seemingly bloated his head and he fired half the company, putting almost 50 towns completely out of work and rendering their local economies entirely useless. He harassed his employees and demanded extreme hours of work, or fired them. In effect, any aspect of Englands countryside that was dependant on Pine and Son power company was entirely screwed.

Sitkuss Pine, it just so happened was visiting his hometown and word had reached the entire village before his car had pulled up to the deteriorating sidewalk, stopping short in front of his enormous manor. He had not returned since his fathers death, but now intended to make the place his own. The few servants left to attend to the house scurried to guide him through the gate, sheltering him with umbrellas. The whole place smelled moldy and dusty, so he rang the local cleaning service in town and set up an immediate appointment to take care of it. After taking dinner in the frigid dining room, which was hardly up to his culinary preferences, he settled back to the study to smoke and drink by the fire, where he contemplated hiring a chef, along with several new maids. Indeed, the entire house would have to be turned around in order to suit him. It was too bad there weren't any whorehouses in town. The company often found in local taverns was not to be desired. As e poured himself another whiskey and contemplated how to accumulate yet even more wealth, his greedy little eyes began to droop in the crackling shadows of the fire. A sudden noise startled him back to his senses and determining that it was not lightning, he stepped out of his study and leaned over the balcony to peer down into the entrance hall.

"Please miss! I just know he'll have something nice to say about her, please, we haven't any food or power, the house is freezing cold, and we've a baby boy, he's just about done for, the winters already too harsh!"

"miss, please take your leave, mister Pine is resting tonight, surely this matter can wait for tomorrow!"

"oh lord, please have mercy! Just let him have a look! Miss, I'm begging-"

"silence." Pine tread softly down the main stairwell to examine the haggard creature before him. The woman was thin and ugly, her hair mangy as a dogs and her clothes filthy.

"What could a wretched bitch like you possibly want." She gaped and bowed her head to him dumbly.

"Please sir, it's just that-I know you have a need for maids, and maybe even an assistant and-" her eyes glimmered with greed as she looked up at him, "I have a daughter."

Pine scoffed.

"everyone has a daughter, hag, and lord knows I don't want to see the one come out of you."

She leered hungrily at him.

"Oh no. You've never seen one the likes of her. She was born out of wedlock, she's a right shame and disgrace to my name, but even so, blessed be the powers that be, you've never seen a girl like her. And she's old enough too, sir. The little wench just turned 16."

Pine sighed and ran a hand through his graying hair, his other hand on his marbled haunches.

"Good god woman, don't make such a scene. I'll have a look, but youre getting thrown out right after, understand? And if you ever come knocking again, I swear I'll have your head on a platter."

Grinning nastily, she nodded and bobbed and hobbled her way to the door, which she gave a gentle tug. Lightning cracked in the distance and he saw a figure standing in the rain. He stepped out towards the door as she stepped forward into the light, and could not help but feel his heart jar against his chest. His maid beside him gave a quiet gasp.

Her name was Ilsa Ankaya, and she was indeed, unlike any other girl he had ever seen.


	2. Chapter 2

Kitty was exhausted. She had spent the entire night poring over and endless stack of papers and her eyes were rimmed red from the lack of sleep. She cursed her accelerated aging and ran a hand through her grey hairs. After some time, she had deemed it foolish to continue dying her hair and now deemed herself a "silver fox", which got a few laughs. London was in a state of disrepair. She found herself stuck on the losing side of a financial battle that was essentially great black hole for money, which her entire cause had none of. The fiscal state of her rebellion had never concerned her, but suddenly she was vying to place commoners in charge of the government, all the while attempting to allocate resources that were nonexistent. Rebecca Piper had shot off like a bomb as soon as her organizational and revolutionary skills were discovered. She hardly saw Piper anymore, as she had become the eager young face for the reposition of parliament. Kitty had a whole gaggle of people working for her, all of them eager to push their new government of the ground to test it's wings, and Kitty was left straggling behind, holding them back with each obstacle they came to face. Though she may have been keeping it all preliminary and relatively inactionary, she reasoned with herself that she would much rather launch a government campaign that would actually work and last through the centuries than one that would be easily torn down by the upturn of new magicians. This brought her worried mind to the main issue at hand. The remaining magicians were scattered, but they were practically oozing with wealth. Those that hadn't collapsed along with the government had either been hoarding or had invested their money in more functional matters. The result was a staggering amount of opposition from a handful of magicians who currently possessed nearly 98% of the entire countries wealth. It was a ridiculous thing that Kitty had never thought this through, but here she was. Now, it seemed the only thing to do was convince the magicians that they should support, fund and participate in this new government structure. Kitty groaned aloud at this thought.

"Jeez, is somebody getting the nasal congestion again?" The dark skinned boy appeared from the darkness, settling onto the desk facing her, his legs sprawling out across the stacks of paperwork. She glared at him.

"it is not a thing. I just moaned a little at the terrifying concept of the rebellion I led turning into dust and all of England burning me at the stake because of it."

"It is a nasal thing. You can even help it, it's probably part of your accent. And chin up, I was once burned at the stake and it really wasn't that bad. Granted, a decent portion of my essence is made of fire, but it still tickled. I've been an advocate for witch rights ever since."

Kitty groaned again, rubbing her face with her hands.

"Great. We'll be sure to win with you on our side. How am I supposed to even do this, Bartimaues? I keep thinking I'm going too big with my approach, but then as soon as I start looking at the small bits, some huge, all encompassing issue comes out of the blue and lands on my desk in the form of paper. Then when I start focusing on the big picture fifty little issues pop up!"

"Are those represented in sticky notes? Because if so, there are probably more than fifty here."

Kitty couldn't help but grin at him. She stood up, her knees creaking slightly from sitting for so long.

"Come on, lets go get a drink before it's bloody sunrise."

"before? They don't serve mimosas till morning though. I don't mean to sound queer or anything, but those things are quite possibly the only human food I can stand."

The two of them bantered their way down to the pub, flicking off the office lamps behind them.


	3. Chapter 3

**HIIIIII GUYYYYSSSSSSS!**

**I am super really omg excited about this story. It's got ADVENTURE and ROMANCE and THINGS in store. Next chapter will be super intense. And then all the chapters following. This was necessary fluff. Please review and stuff, you know, tell me if you hate or if you like it. All the good stuff. **

I was bored for once, after having been sent around the city about fifty different times to clean up various spats between commoners, magicians and minor spirits. The employ of spirits had become a powerful democratic tool to kitty, particularly since I did her bidding of my own free will. The lack of restraints and obvious trust between us had begun to quell the doubts in commoners minds about their perceptions of magicians, but it wouldn't be enough to convince other spirits to do the same. I was supposed to be hatching a plan for that, but I had taken up a new habit instead: drinking. The old stuff hadn't been my gig for nearly a thousand years, not since Ptolemy, but between the safety of London from powerful magicians and Kittys use of persuasion rather than bonds, I felt the occasion to let my inhibitions down again. I had just returned from a morning run to the west side of London, where two imps had been causing a shopkeeper grievance. It had been difficult deciding whether I wanted to whirl them around a bit and send them to the other side of the Thames, or pull their nasty hairs out before punting them, but I decided on a mild stinging hex. The two had leapt off, howling in discomfort while I had watched. So far it had been a satisfactory day. Kitty was running around on the phone, surrounded, as usual, by a horde of eager young assistants, all being molded into the political candidates that would form a democratic government, should they succeed. Kitty aura waned a little from the stress and sleepless nights, but it still shone brighter than that of any other in the city. I fell into step with her as she marched over to the campaign office across the building. They had decided to set up shop in Nathaniels old home, and it served quite nicely. The austere walls while gloomy and too immaculate for comfortable living (save old Natty boy, of course,) made excellent offices. The bedrooms and offices converted nicely, while the dining room was…well, it was a nightmare. Phones were placed on the main table, papers were scattered everywhere and a few pitiful attempts to set up desks had been made, but the feng shui was completely off, no matter what way they rearranged the room. Rearrangement, as it so happened, was a common occurrence.

"Look Kitten, I know your busy-"

"ever call me that again and I'll have your essence in eternal confinement faster than you can say shoebox."

"But the matter of diplomatic descent has come to my attention-or rather, the gap where it should be. Someone needs to be actually deploying envoys to these magicians. I know that they may seem hard to win over, but with a little convincing, maybe some leverage of their own once the government comes about, and persistent door hammering-"

"bartimaeus, we've been over this. I know it would work, but I just cant risk sending people out there to a mgicians property. Theyre our known enemies, and even if it was just a general informational sweep, theres the chance that someone could get hurt, and then I'd have the reputation of this whole operation at stake. How can I get the country to trust me if I cant take care of 300 of their most dedicated citizens?"

"Then send me with them. I'm great with danger. Besides, my mind is rotting out from all this imp shoveling."

"Sooner or later, someone will have to shovel imps, Bartimaeus."

"Yeah, but I've been shoveling for ages-"

"two weeks."

"that's pretty much an eternity, Kit-kat."

She stopped and peered at me quizzically.

"Are you or are you not five thousand years old? And the next nickname will earn you imp duty for a month."

"ha, well, it's actually my birthday this week, so the time has really been dragging by."

"I don't believe you have an actual birthday. However, I do believe that you will pretend you do and get completely obliterated."

"darling you know me so well."

Kitty turned to me now, serious written all over her face. She pursed her lips at me in a disapproving manner.

"Don't start. Not again."

I shrugged my shoulder in feigned innocence.

"What? Kitty, as a beautiful woman in this ravaged world you should be used to sexual advancement-"

"gah, stop-" She held a hand up to me, looking slightly queasy. "you know I don't like that nonsense. Besides I'm an old lady now."

"Please. Look at the government you just destroyed. Literally every magician was a wheezing bag of bones except-"

I quickly avoided her eyes and we continued walking in silence. Nathaniels death had been more of a shock to her, but she even admitted her own detachment to him. Nonetheless, she briefly chatted that he went out for a good cause and she had a deep sense of respect for my previous master. Afterwards, she hadn't pestered me about it. I was still deciding how I felt about it. After a while of feeling glum and probably spending too much time contemplating the matter I decided I probably had another five thousand years to review it. So I went about my daily hoohah and focused my attention to Kitty's campaign. Kittys willingness to leave the matter alone only added to my profound affection for her.

She pulled an arm around my waist as we trundled along the abandoned corridor. Clearly, the lunch rush was still in effect. The average age of our little campaign helpers made for expensive meals at meetings; 300 scrawny teenagers scarfed down two tons of chili and hot dogs faster than we could blink. However, it meant that from noon to one the slender townhouse was surprisingly tranquil.

"Kit-kat, your auras fading. You need rest." She stopped in front of the campaign office and smiled at me affectionately.

"Stop pretending like I need to be taken care of. This is my world, remember?" With this she leaned forward and kissed the copper forehead before walking in and pulling the French door shut behind her.

I took the form of a pigeon and fluttered out the adjacent window.


	4. Chapter 4

The last twenty four hours had been blur of chaos. Kitty was currently bent over a great map of London lit dimly by candlelight. She had quite possibly led her entire campaign into total disaster. As Kevin Drefer listed off towns and areas of London she marked them with a red pen. When he had finally finished with the list, she and the five other young managers and assistants leaned inwards to peer at the map, which was almost entirely covered in red marks.

There was a moment of silence as they stared in shock.

"We are so fucked."

Kitty looked up at their anxious faces from her seat.

"yeah. Pretty much."

**24 hours earlier**

"what could possibly be so urgent that you actually had to start the summons? I was only on the other side of the neighborhood."

As I entered the room, Kitty attacked me, throwing her arms around me.

"Success, Bartimaeus! Your campaign worked! It worked you cocky smart-ass!"

I stared at her dimly for a second before throwing my nose in the air haughtily.

"Well obviously it worked. I'm a genius." Kitty laughed and spun around in the encroaching glow of sunset, which basked the room in an orange glow.

As she opened the champagne in her bottom desk drawer, almost hitting me in the face with the cork, I lounged in her chair.

"What part exactly though? I mean, I've had a lot of ideas…"

Kitty poured herself a glass and handed me the bottle from which I promptly started chugging.

"The envoys out to the surrounding areas. Except I tweaked your idea a little."

"Go on."

"We sent teams out to launch an informational campaign for the citizens and commoners instead, telling them all about parliament, freedom from the magicians, everything. It's been kind of hush hush, we wanted to surprise everyone. But we sent out a petition to all the workers, mums and common folk out in all the surrounding areas of London. Guess how many signatures, Bartimaeus."

I stared at her, a pit of uncomfortable dread growing in my bowels.

"How many?" I asked weakly.

"over 50,000, why don't you look happy?"

I groaned and putmy face in my hands.

"oh dear god, Kitty."

She put her glass down and started looking as worried as she should have been.

"Kitty, tell me where all the magicians are that just so happen to take an immense dislike to the idea of being bossed around by anyone but themselves?"

"Um…in the surrounding area of London?"

"tell me now how they survived the collapse of the government, seeing as they obviously weren't invested in it's maintence and put their money to other uses."

"I dunno, manufacturing and-"

Her face fell and she looked at me aghast. She sank down against her desk.

"Yes, that's right, you just turned an entire workforce against their employers. I don't mean to sound harsh, but you literally just put 50,000 people out of a job."

Suddenly, she got that determined, fierce look I recognized.

"no. no, that's not necessarily a bad thing."

I gave her a skeptical look, to which she got up from the floor and began pacing, waving her hands about in a state of fiery resolution.

"No, this can work. So it's all a bit soon, but how else can we get these magicians to fall? We need numbers on our side and drastic measures have to be taken for a change to take place. I know it means that everyone will be out of a job and the country may face some hard times, but if we don't restart the ecnomy without magicians now, how can we expect to do it later?"

I sighed. "Kitty, theres truth to what you say, but you're not looking for that, I promise. Remember what I said about great uprisings coming and going? Just because something happens quickly doesn't make it permanent. Time and time again-"

'Commoners rise up and restart a democratic government without magicians and they fail, yes, yes, I know. But this doesn't necessarily mean that the right leadership cant lead us away from that."

Her eyes were bright with determination and her aura was pulsing bright blue and purple with excitement.

"time and time again, leaders have been turning the masses against commoners, but that doesn't work. It doesn't work when magicians are against commoners. If theyre all out of jobs, then who's going to work? If no one works, how can the magicians expect to maintain their wealth? We don't have to go after them, even if they go after us. We can choose to offer the olive branch."

"What exactly is the olive branch, Kit-kat?"

Kitty stopped and sighed now.

"Yeah that's the hard part. But If they choose to invest in this new government, it wont prevent them from continuing the practice of magic. It'll just be a more stable investment. Maybe. I don't know, Bartimaeus, I'm no hedge fund advisor. I do know that I have an incredible team working behind me teeming with creativity and between all of us we're bound to come up with a bright idea."

Quite ironically, after Kitty finished her sentence, all the lights went out.

"shit."


	5. Chapter 5

_There were sirens, fire and the odor of smoke was stinging my nose. Hardly my nose, I'm not even real, but suddenly I was so human, the differences between her and I seemed too pitiful to scrape together. I looked real, didn't, I? My eyes were brown, maybe the bland color made me even more normal than her. After all, her eyes were green and blue, little flecks of gold shimmering as their pupils dilated in the light of sunrise. Maybe I was even more real than her. She looked at me and smiled a little, walking right up to the edge of the brick building. Fire was raging, shattering the windows behind us. her eyes closed and she leaned forward, tipping into the nameless morning, falling to the ancient earth. _

In the still of Londons deep night, only the moon and stars were reflecting off the sidewalk and roofs. All the streetlights were out and the only slight illumination came from the windows where people were lighting candles. As was to be expected, chaos had begun to unfold in the city. Thankfully, that was exactly what we were leaving behind. Already several rowdy crowds had started throwing rotten fruit and bottles at our group of campaign members as we left the old magicians neighborhood and headed for a car. I had transformed into an enormous, snarling minotaur which promptly sent the scoundrels pissing themselves in the opposite direction. There may have been a whole city against us, but none of them had spirits or magic on their side, so I wasn't particularly worried. The headlights flashed against the deepening shrubbery of Londons outer edges as the abandoned factories and rubble of outer London began to fade into countryside.

As we approached the small town shadows grew tall, seeping from trees and blending into fields that were interrupted only by the widen fences jutting up to distinguish property lines. I glanced over at Kitty, who was driving, biting at her nails nervously.

"you shouldn't do that, you know. It's a bad habit." She looked over at me and smiled.

"I cant help it. This is bloody stressful."

I leaned back casually, kicking my feet up on the dashboard, to which she promptly tsked.

"hey, that's politics, kit-kat. Better get used to it, it aint a cushy ride. Besides, youre doing great. If I were you, I'd retire. Quit while you're ahead and all that jazz."

She snorted, shaking her head. A few wispy grey hairs came to rest on her shoulder, successfully giving her a frazzled and worn look.

"No way. Not for like, another ten years. You just want me to retire so that you can laze around and drink mimosas all day."

I shrugged.

"um….yeah? I thought that was obvious enough it needed no mentioning."

She sighed, her eyes lowering in a defeated manner before she gave me an apologetic look.

"Oh bartimaeus. I'm so sorry. You deserve so much better than this."

"oh no Kitty, no this. Can we just pretend that we had this conversation and then no actually have it?"

"No, I have to get this out," she said, thumping on the steering wheel emphatically, "it's important that you know this. You mean a lot to me. Youre not just here because I need help or to run errands for me. Youre not even just here because I trust you."

I writhed uncomfortably and grunted in misery.

"you're here because you're my best friend bartimaeus and I need you and I think you want to be here."

I slid down in my seat.

"Gah, is it over? Please tell me that's all."

She laughed and patted me on the head.

"Unless if you want to say something to me."

I shuddered.

"ohohohoh, that's funny, Kitten. Good god, don't ever do that to me again, that was the most uncomfortable thing any master has ever put me through. That's including stipples."

"oh yeah? Well you're always going on about sex. That's pretty damn uncomfortable for me."

I sputtered.

"Kitty, sex is normal! Djinn do it, humans do it, animals do it, and everyone does it. Nathaniel had an unnatural aversion to sex and Ill tell you, there was some seriously odd psychological stuff developing there. It isn't healthy; you gotta get laid once in a while." I took a casual posture, with my hands behind my head. Kitty was laughing and blushing slightly.

"Ok, ok. Whens the last time you got laid, Bartimaeus?"

"bout four years ago. Which, I'll remind you before you start harassing me about an dry spell, thats actually a very short period of time for us ancient spirits."

Kitty was cackling. Her immature reactions to sexual conversations were possibly the sole reason I ever brought them up, she could hardly contain herself.

"oh jeez. You having sex. Erruuggnnnnhhh. Hey, hey, heres a gross thought: having sex with a spirit!"

I suddenly felt a little queasy.

"kitty! Damn, that's straight up innaproproate! That's where I draw the line! Yyerrcckkk."

It was too true, Kitty and I may have broken barriers in our trust, but there were a few items of human-spirit interaction that would never go further than their use in theatrical production. Though, often when portrayed in the theater (here I was recalling Makepeaces godawful plays with a light cringe) they tended to be used solely for shock value. Humans and djinn were hardly made to touch each other. I was often impressed when kitty would throw an arm around my shoulder without even flinching or being revolted in the slightest. Previous masters had compared the feeling to being dunked in a bucket of prickly slime. Her desire to avoid offending me was admirable, but unnecessary.

She was still groaning in disgust when the headlights suddenly flashed over a little road sign. She slowed down to the side of the road.

"Rickerston." She looked at me, all the worry reappearing in fret lines and a furrowed brow. "Well, we're here."

We took the next road and entered the dark town.


	6. Chapter 6

"_Will you ever know how tiny you are, floating out among the stars?"_

_A fan of dark lashes painted shadows on the pale face. Looking out into night and looking into vast emptiness, she was never afraid. _

"_how do you want to die?"_

"_now. I want to die now. Where does this world end?"_

"_it ends with my world."_

"_you have to go somewhere when you die, too."_

"_we go separate ways."_

_Her lips parted to gasp warm breath into the chilly air._

"_never."_

As Kitty and I pulled into the small town she grasped the steering wheel anxiously. We pulled up to the run down city hall, which appeared to be completely overrun with shabby looking citizens.

"oh good lord, if this what a hoe-down actually is, I'm not a fan."

Kitty parked on the side of the dirt road and we got out. Almost everyone stopped arguing amongst themselves and stared at us on our way into the building. Kitty pulled herself up and tried to look dignified. Inside the room was dimly lit with candles and totally packed with people despite the late hour. They all stopped talking. Kitty gulped. An older woman stepped forward towards Kitty.

"excuse me miss, how can we help you?" Kitty readjusted, standing up straight and cleared her throat.

"yes, my name is Kitty Jones, I'm leading the campaign for reinstation of parliament."

Murmers broke out around the room. The woman suddenly leapt to life.

"oh my goodness, have you come all the way from London? My name is Grace Kilterson, call me grace though."

"yes, thank you, it's lovely to meet you." I stood behind Kitty, trying to be surreptitious and succeeding little; those that weren't staring at kitty were staring at me. I twiddled my thumbs casually.

"And who is this handsome young man?"

I groaned a little. Kitty suppressed a grin.

"This is Bartimaeus. Hes a…volunteer for the campaign."

I bowed in ironic form. "Pleasure."

Grace peered at me for a moment.

"Miss Jones, Bartimaeus, I mean no disrespect, but is that not the name of a demon?"

Kitty stood a little taller at this.

"It is. Bartimaeus and I aim to break the power magicians hold over both Englands people and _spirits _such as him. He aids me of his own free will."

Grace looked quite taken aback.

"My goodness Miss Jones! Well, you are very impressive. Well, please follow me."

Kitty and I followed grace over to the front of the room where a stack of papers was intimidating the bedraggled people behind it.

"Miss Jones, I'm assuming you know about the situation in our town, and many others?" Kitty flushed an embarrassed tone of pink.

"Um, no. I'm sorry, you'll have to refresh me…"

"oh! Well then, you ought to have a seat." Grace signaled for Kitty to sit beside her at the table across from the hunched clerks peering into depths of paperwork. Grace pushed the mountain aside and revealed two bespectacled youngsters, a girl and a boy hardly a day over thirty.

"Lara, Richard, this is Kitty Jones, she's here with the parliament campaign and this is her friend, Bartimaeus." Their eyes suddenly lit up and they clumsily both got up to shake Kitty's hand, knocking papers everywhere in their hurry.

"Miss Jones! It's an honor!" the girl squeaked, wringing Kittys hand.

"Miss Jones, can I just say I am so impressed with what you've done and that the reintroduction of a democratic government is the most brilliant idea anyone had ever had." He pushed his glasses off, seeing as they had slipped down his nose in his jittery excitement.

Kitty laughed nervously.

"Haha, well I think the guy who invented parliament may have had some pretty brilliant ideas."

They paused awkwardly. Kitty looked tense, realizing her joke had fallen flat. I sighed, recalling the reason we didn't send her out to rally people for the campaign.

The girl and guy looked at each other and started laughing.

"haha, that's funny! That's a good one!" They giggled, twitching slightly and turning a little red, pushing up their glasses with their index fingers. Kitty turned behind her to give me a bemused look. I shrugged. She turned back to them.

"Haha, yeah…well, I'd love to stand chatting all day but we actually came here because it happens to be the headquarters for the largest and possibly only power company in England. And well, as you can tell, the power is out. Supposedly the source for our electricity is here and we just wanted to see what we can do to get the power back on. London is…well, people are in a bit of a frenzy."

Everyone glanced at their shoes at this. Grace motioned for Kitty and I to sit.

Richard placed his hands on the table.

"Miss Jones, have you ever heard of Sitkuss Pine?"

She glanced at me and I shrugged. The name didn't ring any bells. I had an ominous feeling though. But then again, I often had an ominous feeling. Pessimism usually saved my skin. I let the ominous feeling carry on doing it's usual process of creating thirty six different backup plans.

"Sitkuss Pine owns the power company Pine and Son. I'm sure you know who they are."

"Heavens yes. They have a monopoly over nearly all of England."

"Well, this is where Sitkuss lives. His manor and estate are on the other side of town. It's a little hard to miss. Around four years ago he moved back here after his father died. He's been terrorizing our town and every town outside London ever since. He established a firm grip on the power supply of every town in a two hundred mile radius and cut down on labor by nearly fifty percent. Immediately afterwards, he raised prices significantly so he could expand out to London. Power prices have been steadily increasing ever since and…well with nearly half the towns in England out of work because he fired all the labor for the local plants, the economy has completely crashed. Every year he freezes at least five families to death simply because they can't afford to heat their own houses!"

Kitty cringed at gave me a worried look. I really wasn't liking the sound of this guy. He was a right old ebanezer.

"Well, this last week, our little town saw the first glimmer of hope it's seen in a long time. With parliament in place, magicians won't have this sort of ridiculous grip on all the money in our town. The only reason this ever went unchecked and unheard of is because Sitkuss is a magician. He's a right old codger though, if he didn't have magic up his sleeve, he'd be in prison for some of the atrocities he's committed! Anyways, I'm getting a little heated. The point is, we're all on your side, Kitty Jones."

Kitty drew herself up and beamed at this.

"Thank you Grace. That's very good to hear. What exactly do we do about this power situation though? It's not exactly like our campaign has very much money to draw on if that's what Sitkuss is looking for-"

"Oh dear, yes. That. Well, as you said the headquarters for the main power supply is in town. It's actually inside Pines home. But there is on small problem. Mr. Pine has left town and the actual dead switch to control all the power operations is….impenetrable."

Kitty's shoulders slouched a little at this news.

I was glad I had been pessimistic in my thinking.


End file.
